The
National Judicial Council (NJC) has recommended the compulsory retirement of
two judges found guilty of professional misconduct.

The two
judges are O Gbajabiamila of the Lagos High Court and Idris M. J. Evuti of the
High Court of Niger State.

The
recommendation for their immediate compulsory retirement has been communicated
to the governors of Lagos and Niger states.

A lawyer,
Oluwaseun Olusiyi, is recommended to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary
Committee (LPDC) for disciplinary action for walking out on a judge.

The NJC,
however, cleared Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court, Lagos of
misconduct as it found unsubstantiated a petition of alleged misconduct written
against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

It ordered
Justice Tanko Yusuf Usman of the High Court of Niger State to refund the
salaries he earned from June, last year till March this year (when he retired),
having been found to have altered his age.

NJC’s
Acting Director of Information Soji Oye, in a statement yesterday, said the
decisions were taken at its sitting of April 13 and 14.

He said:
“Hon. Justice O. Gbaja-Biamila was recommended for compulsory retirement from
office to the governor of Lagos State, pursuant to the findings by the council
on the allegations contained in the petitions written against his Lordship by
Mr. C. A. Candide Johnson, SAN.

“The
allegations are: That the Hon. judge delivered judgment in suit No ID\1279\2007
P. K. Ojo Vs SDV & SCOA Nigeria Plc, twenty two months (22), after written
addresses were adopted by all the counsel and thirty-five (35) months after the
close of evidence in the suit, contrary to the constitutional provisions that
judgments should be delivered within a period of 90 days;“That his
Lordship did not publish a copy of judgment he delivered on 24th December, 2013
until after 40 days, contrary to the provision of the Constitution which
required that a copy of the judgment of a Superior Court of record be given to
parties in the case within 7 days of delivery.

“That the
Hon. Judge continued to hear the suit in his court after he had been notified
of the pendency of a motion for a stay of execution at the Court of Appeal and
that an appeal had been entered.

“Prior to
the issuance of the first writ of attachment, the court Registrar, under the
direct administration of the Hon. Judge, falsely misrepresented to the Deputy
Sheriff in a memo dated 28th November, 2014, that there was no appeal or motion
in the case file as at 28th November 2014. “Meanwhile, there were two notices
of appeal and two summons to settle records in the court’s file.

“That the
Hon. Judge gave an order on 23rd February, 2015 upon an ex-parte application
substituting the name of SDV Nigeria Ltd with Bollore Logistics Nigeria Ltd
without serving the order of substitution on the affected party or its legal
representatives.

“That the
Hon. Judge failed to maintain professional competence required to preserve the
integrity of the Judiciary.

“The above
allegations constitute misconduct contrary to Section 292 (1) (b) of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended and Rules 1.3, 3.3,
3.4 and 3.7 of the 2016 Revised Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“In the
interim, the National Judicial Council in exercise of its power under Paragraph
21 Sub-Paragraph (d) of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, has suspended Hon. O. Gbaja-Biamila
from office with immediate effect.

“Council
also considered a petition written by Mohammed Idris Eggun against Hon.
Justices Idris M. J. Evuti and Tanko Yusuf Usman of the High Court of Niger
State on falsification of their dates of birth.

“A fact
finding committee set-up by the council found from the records made available
to it that the Hon. Justice Evuti used three different dates of birth over the
years as 15th September, 1950, 10th April, 1953 and 1st April, 1953 and
therefore recommended his compulsory retirement with immediate effect.

“Apart
from the recommendation for compulsory retirement of Hon. Justice Idris M. J.
Evuti, council recommended to the Government of Niger State to deduct all
salaries received by him from September, 2015 till date from his gratuity and
remit same to the National Judicial Council that pays salaries of all judicial
officers in the federation.

“With
respect to the Hon. Justice Tanko Yusuf Usman, council did not recommend his
compulsory retirement because it had already accepted his retirement with
effect from 1st March, 2016.

“However,
council decided to write to the Government of Niger State, to deduct from the
gratuity the salaries received by him from June 2015 when his Lordship should
have retired from the Bench.”

Oye
continued: “Council at the same meeting exonerated Hon. Justice Saliu Saidu of
the Federal High Court, Lagos of misconduct as it found unsubstantiated a
petition of alleged misconduct written against him by Securities and Exchange
Commission.

“The Hon.
Judge was alleged to have been biased in granting ex-parte orders of injunction
against the commission in suit No FNC\L\CS\767\15: BGL Ltd and Ors V.
Securities and Exchange Commission without due regard to the relevant factors
and circumstances of the case.“The
counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Oluwaseun Olusiyi was also
reported to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for walking out on
the Judge on the matter when she was told the matter was not ripe for hearing
for disciplinary action.”